Achloride of silicon contains 79.1 mass % cl. (a) what is the empirical formula of the chloride?

SiCl₃

Explanation:

To solve this problem, let's assume that we have 100 g of that chloride of silicon. We then would have 79.1 g of Cl and 100 - 79.1=20.9 g of Si.

Then we calculate the amount of moles in the mass of each element, using the elements' atomic weight:

Now we divide the number of moles by the lowest number, in this case, it's the moles of Si:

2.2313 / 0.7443 = 2.9978 => 3

0.7443 / 0.7443 = 1

Thus the empirical formula is SiCl₃

explanation: